USA and Israel

It is important to reform divorce laws in order to make it harder to get a divorce. The liberal divorce laws have led to an increase in divorce cases, especially in Europe and America (Kim & Oka, p1). The rise in divorce cases in industrialized nations in the recent past is generating a lot of interest among scholars and policy makers. This has had far reaching consequences on women and children (Gonzalez & Viitanen, p1). Moreover, legislation on divorce affects the economic and psychological well-being of a considerable segment of the society.

Scholars have found that there is need to reform the divorce laws in order to make it harder to get a divorce and avert the socio-economic problems associated with it. Scholars further cite the case of the unilateral divorce laws, which are responsible for a 17% increase in divorce in the US between the 1970’s and 1980’s. It is, therefore, important to reform such laws so as to limit the growing rates of divorce in the American society.

Moreover, high divorce rates have led to the weakening of the traditional family structure (Rasul, p2). This has had a negative impact on the general growth of the society at large. This is evident in the presence of children that have undergone poor parenting and can hardly make good citizens. It is for this reason that divorce laws should be reformed in order to curb the rising cases of divorce.

Another important reason as to why divorce laws should be reformed in order to make it difficult to get a divorce is to protect the sanctity of marriage. With the liberalization of divorce laws, people have taken the advantage of the situation to weaken the essence of marriage in our communities. Marriage was hitherto a well respected institution, until the divorce laws were liberalized. Liberalization of divorce laws has made it easy for couples to obtain divorce even at short notice.

Consequently, the institution of marriage is no longer as strong as it used to be. Furthermore, the respect and honor that people had for marriages has also declined. This is as a result of it being very easy to obtain a divorce, as necessitated by liberal divorce laws. Some people have even gone to the extent of creating contract marriages, whereby a couple agrees to a time-framed marriage that will come to an end when the duration expires. In order to restore the position of honor of marriages, it is crucial to reform divorce laws so that it is not as easy to obtain a divorce.

Divorce laws should be reformed in order to strengthen and build marriages, rather than break them. Researchers have established a correlation between marriages and better health, accumulation of wealth and higher incomes (Rasul, p2). In other words, there are numerous positive social and private returns to marriages. Married partners are able to accumulate and build wealth together, educate their children and generally lead contended lives. This also boosts their health. Divorce, on the other hand, has far reaching psychological and social repercussions. This is because the process can be emotionally draining and costly too in terms of court charges, especially if it is prolonged.

The government could start by making divorce a process of mutual agreement. This will make it difficult for people to get a divorce because the process would involve that the two parties come to a mutual agreement. This means that if one person wishes to divorce, they cannot just file for divorce. It should be mandatory for the two of them to initiate the divorce program. This will minimize cases of divorce since in most cases, it is one partner who chases for divorce while the other remains reluctant and unwilling to let go.

High divorce rates also have an impact to the economy of a given country. This is because a lot of resources go into the sustenance of divorce processes, ranging from resource persons to financial obligations. High divorce rates mean that the number of divorce courts should be increased so as to deal with the ever-growing number of divorce cases. This casts a heavy burden on the tax-payer, who has to dig deeper into their pockets. In addition, divorce parties may spend most of their time, as well as money, on the process of divorce; thus, impacting negatively on their economic well-being. Therefore, divorce laws should be reformed to make it difficult for one to obtain a divorce.

In essence, the necessity to reform divorce laws is rather urgent. This is because there is need to strengthen the family unit and structure and to limit the impact on the socio-economic development of a country. Therefore, we should reform divorce laws in order to make it difficult for one to get a divorce.